I met a woman this morning with whom I had a very long, interesting conversation – the kind that drifts in and around and through many subjects, has no boundaries regarding strict schedules and no need to rush off somewhere else and which leaves us with an internal sense of renewed creativity and curiosity about our own small worlds. Such talks inspire our positive sense of light and excitement and an expanded state of possibilities.

This is why I don’t spend much time with busy, “heavily-scheduled” people. Their busyness is, ultimately, a bore, engaged in by superficial boors. I’d rather spend time with something and/or someone outside of time constraints, a bit nutty and allowing for things to naturally unfold, just like this woman and the man (the fabulous Jackie Chan, master of both the ridiculously slapstick and the beautiful martial artistry of life) here in the photo. These are my people.

As we begin to approach the idea and physical event of December 12, 2012, I find a need to address the increasing anxieties, terrors, ecstatic blisses and stories of the alleged arrival of the next messiah that are exponentially growing out of this much-anticipated event.

All orientations to The Event, whether of fear and doom and gloom or silly notions proposed by New Agers that we are all going to transform into a new level of abundance and kindergarten levels of “happy happy joy joy” nonsense, are born out of an externally-oriented locus of control. Some are “prepping” for the impending disaster and hiding out in underground bunkers. Others are holding sharing circles meditating on and believing that our planet is going to morph into a purple star. All attempts to put forth theories of what will happen are simply left-brained attempts to control the future, which none of us can do. That is up to the Great Divine herself, whether embodied in her larger self as the ever-changing cosmos, or here in her smaller earthly manifestation within the creative, transformative wombs of all women.

Our work is to enter into the unknown.

The Unknown, that which cannot be named but which we know as true, lies at the heart of the study of the Tao. It is our acceptance of the Unknown, the Inexplicable Wonder, that divides the children from the adults, the kindergartners from the truly aware, the boys and girls from the men and women of life. In every case, the latter are the spiritual warriors/sages of our times and it would behoove us all to discern and look to the latter for guidance as we proceed forward in our adventures of the mysteries of life.

I seem to be stumbling across a number of articles these days that express, far more beautifully than I can, my own philosophical orientation to life and the need to return to a very vital, sacred part of human nature which has been lost to the commodifying, consumerist culture that has, over time, impoverished our spiritual selves. This is what I wish we all could do for our children and ourselves. It is called: Remember Your Song http://www.earth-heal.com/index.php/news/news-for-an-earth-in-tranition/64-the-joy-of-being/494-song.html

I posted this on my other website: sistertongue.wordpress.com and decided to re-post it here because it captures so much of what the Tao is all about. There is, indeed, a song that sings within everyone of us. Or a dance, which is what the Tai Chi, Chi Gung, Ba Gua are. Whether song or dance, preferably a combination of the two, they are about rhythm and cadence and patterning – the yin, right-brain wisdoms of the human brain that have been so over-ridden by the fearful, yang qualities of the linear, concrete and hierarchical machinations of the left-brain.

Without the holy, sacred union of the two, humanity will never achieve it’s Higher Mind.

There are many meditation practices that have been introduced to the West, primarily Buddhist and Hindu, that teach that our goal in this lifetime (or any, if you believe in reincarnation), is to transcend the human, physical experience of life. Many of these philosophies focus on emptying the mind of all thoughts and experiencing the place of nothingness and non-existence.

Such practices are very useful in allowing the aspiring seeker of their own spirituality to enter into a state of comprehension that infinite awareness falls outside of the small and temporal cardboard box within which we have incarnated at any given time. I have, indeed, sat for many years in the tibetan buddhist tradition and have gained enormous insights into the infinity of awareness.

I have always found such practices to be wonderful complements to the moving meditation of the Tao.

The Taoist arts, however, also have a sitting meditation practice, the foundation of which is very different from the above-mentioned practices. Read the rest of this entry »

When conducted correctly, with honor and respect, the Tao allows us to come together in a sense of belonging to something far larger than our individual selves. This is the essence of building a “family” of dedication that encompasses many different individuals, lifestyles and orientations to the world. At it’s best, it inspires joy, movement, laughter, a sense of shared involvement and the lifting up and building of our collective and individual chi energies.